Kremer: LI can’t ignore MTA’s struggles

People can deny it as much as they choose but as New York City goes, so goes Long Island. The vast majority of our taxpaying residents rely on the city for their income and for their entertainment.
The lifeline that ties Long Island to New York City is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Unfortunately, the debate over ...

First of all, the vast majority of Long Islanders do not rely upon New York City for their income. Over 80 percent of Long Islanders who are employed are employed on Long Island.

Second, the MTA provides Long Island far less service than it does for comparable populations in the metropolitan area. Long Island Bus has been chronically underfunded by the MTA. MTA provides no bus service in Suffolk County. The LIRR cannot provide meaningful reverse commutation, as Metro North can, because of the lack of a third track on the main line. So for Long Island’s 2.8 million people MTA service does not compare to the service MTA provides to people in the five boroughs or in the northern suburbs.

What is not debatable, however, is that proposals to impose a payroll tax on all 100,000 Long Island businesses, over 95 percent of which are very small businesses, as well as not-for-profits, school districts, and all other employers would be economically harmful and unfair. Unfair because the same payroll tax would be applied to small businesses regardless of whether they are in Riverhead or Brooklyn. Small businesses in Riverhead, and most of Nassau and Suffolk counties, do not receive the same level of MTA services enjoyed by small businesses in the City. Why should their tax burden be the same?

Additionally, the payroll tax would be imposed on top of the largest tax increase in the State’s history; an almost $9 billion effective tax increase in the State budget. In the midst of a deep recession. Thousands of small businesses and not-for-profits are holding on by their financial fingernails; the payroll tax could well make many fall into insolvency.

Senators Johnson and Foley supported the State budget tax increases; it now is – and should be – incumbent on them to oppose any further tax increases.

In all due respect you have to be kidding me! This payroll tax is a joke and will do more to hurt small business in both NYC and Long Island. Wake up! Do you not see that we are in a recession and that most small business here on Long Island already have lost between 30% to 60% of their business revenue. I have not seen the MTA go to the unions or management asking for concessions and expense reduction. We are taxing our residents and businesses to death and how much more can we all take. Have the MTA Unions and management step up and show us they have done their fair share and maybe we all can find a solution.